John Dodson Replaces An Injured Ian McCall at UFC On FOX 9

After Ian McCall was forced to withdraw from his UFC On FOX 9 showdown with Scott Jorgensen due to a hand injury, the UFC was forced to find a replacement to welcome Jorgensen to the Flyweight ranks. A few days later it would be revealed that knockout-artist John Dodson will be the one to fill in for McCall on the December 14th card at the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento,CA.

Dodson, who is also a former Bantamweight has really impressed after winning season 14 of “The Ultimate Fighter.” He has been victorious in four of his five UFC fights, with his only loss coming against UFC Flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson in a very closely contested bout where he almost finished the champion on multiple occasions.

Most recently, Dodson was awarded “Knockout of the Night” after a first round knockout win over UFC newcomer Darrell Montague just 10 days ago at UFC 166.

Some may ask, isn’t two months a bit too soon for Dodson to get back in the octagon?

Well, if you asked John Dodson that question he would say no. In fact this is what he asked for.

In his UFC 166 post-fight interview with Ariel Helwani, Dodson had this to say on that topic:

“If I want to get back on another card and fight soon, I have to end this one, win it the way that I just did and show to Dana White and all of the UFC sitting there saying I’m a badass, throw me in another fight, I don’t care if it’s going to be in two weeks, three weeks, I’m ready to go.”

Photo Courtesy of USA Today Sports

As for Jorgensen, he is a long time Bantamweight who at one time fought for the UFC Bantamweight title. However, Jorgensen has been struggling as of late, in his last four fights he is 1-3. Although he has lost three of his last four, those losses have come against UFC interim Bantamweight champion Renan Barao and title challengers Urijah Faber and Eddie Wineland.

While this match-up between Jorgensen and Dodson may not make perfect sense, it does have a chance of being competitive.

Intriguingly, Jorgensen has only been knocked out once in his professional MMA career, while on the other end of the spectrum, Dodson has won a majority of his fights by way of KO/TKO.

If Dodson is able to finish Jorgensen it will prove just how good he is; however, if this fight goes all three rounds it can be quite competitive, simply due to the fact that Jorgensen tends to give his opponents all they can handle and is so hard to finish.

Nevertheless, a win over Dodson in his Flyweight debut would be huge for Jorgensen and could put him very close to that UFC gold. And while many were calling for Dodson to get another shot at the title after he knocked out Montague, a victory over a gritty veteran who always shows up to fight in Jorgensen will do him some good as well.